Every year I am adding to new features and articles to my College Football Preview and PhilSteele.com and this year for all 124 teams I have added a couple extra columns to the Game-by-Game Stats that you will find on the right hand page for every team. A lot of people have been asking me what those columns stand for and I thought I would explain it further in today’s blog.

Last year during the season I was wondering how certain offensive and defensive performances that a team had vs a particular opponent stacked up on how the other opponents fared against that team. Not every performance as far as yards gained and given up is created equal due to the quality of opponent played. Let’s face it gaining 300 yards of offense last year vs Alabama’s defense would be far more impressive than gaining 300 yards vs Kansas’ D. So to the right of the net yards and points columns, you will see an offensive vs foe and defensive vs foe numbers. The first # is what that performance ranked compared to every other team their opponent allowed throughout the year (#1 being the best, with #12 being the worst since most teams played 12 games) while the second column contains the number of yards positive or negative against their opponent’s average.

If you need further explanation feel free to check out the June 14th blog.

Over the last two days I have broke down the offensive and defensive averages and in today’s blog I took all those averages (both offense and defense) and combined them to come up with the most impressive teams in the country compared to how they fared against their opponent. First, here is a ranking of all 124 teams and how they did.

Offensive and Defensive YPG Averages
Compared to Opponent Average

Overall
Rank

Team

Off Avg

Off Rank

Def Avg

Def Rank

Total

1

Alabama

73.99

16

163.88

1

237.87

2

Texas A&M

210.94

1

1.43

61

212.37

3

Florida St

75.46

21

120.72

5

196.18

4

Oregon

143.64

5

26.85

45

170.49

5

BYU

21.83

52

130.12

4

151.95

6

Notre Dame

49.06

28

99.31

8

148.38

7

Georgia

111.23

7

29.20

42

140.44

8

Fresno St

77.50

19

59.00

22

136.50

9

Nebraska

102.23

9

23.74

49

125.96

10

Oklahoma St

118.92

8

5.23

60

124.15

11

Clemson

144.48

4

-20.96

79

123.52

12

Michigan St

-11.84

76

133.97

3

122.12

13

Oklahoma

79.67

17

42.21

30

121.88

14

Utah St

48.85

33

70.03

19

118.88

15

Texas Tech

75.63

20

40.52

33

116.15

16

Wisconsin

27.69

48

85.43

12

113.12

17

Florida

-25.88

83

137.19

2

111.31

18

South Carolina

7.06

58

97.15

10

104.21

19

Baylor

178.56

2

-77.65

115

100.91

20

Tulsa

28.49

47

71.88

17

100.36

21

Syracuse

101.98

12

-1.99

63

99.99

22

LSU

-1.10

64

100.64

7

99.54

23

San Jose St

50.01

31

44.98

28

94.99

24

Arizona St

49.11

32

44.10

29

93.21

25

Oregon St

33.23

43

58.61

23

91.84

26

Michigan

27.05

49

61.79

21

88.84

27

Ohio St

43.18

38

40.03

34

83.21

28

Northern Illinois

56.23

25

24.66

47

80.89

29

Virginia Tech

-2.60

67

83.26

13

80.66

30

Georgia Tech

44.34

34

35.45

39

79.79

31

Louisville

46.49

36

28.19

43

74.68

32

Boise St

0.61

61

73.04

16

73.66

33

TCU

-33.19

90

104.51

6

71.33

34

Penn St

32.01

46

38.97

36

70.98

35

USC

47.69

29

20.65

52

68.33

36

Arkansas St

56.81

27

11.22

57

68.03

37

Stanford

-30.63

91

97.75

9

67.12

38

Mississippi

38.86

41

28.15

44

67.01

39

UCLA

59.37

22

7.53

59

66.90

40

Marshall

120.32

10

-54.56

100

65.76

41

Kansas St

-32.92

89

96.84

11

63.92

42

Pittsburgh

12.90

56

46.69

27

59.59

43

Texas

18.30

53

41.03

32

59.32

44

Nevada

94.74

15

-35.44

90

59.30

45

North Carolina

85.59

18

-28.68

88

56.91

46

Troy

97.92

13

-45.48

96

52.44

47

San Diego St

0.02

63

51.20

26

51.23

48

West Virginia

96.65

14

-45.58

97

51.07

49

Louisiana Tech

175.74

3

-128.18

124

47.55

50

UCF

-1.47

66

39.70

35

38.22

51

Arkansas

55.42

30

-19.36

77

36.06

52

Virginia

-21.39

79

56.56

24

35.16

53

Cincinnati

52.34

35

-23.64

83

28.70

54

Ohio

30.58

50

-7.65

64

22.93

55

Arizona

124.61

6

-102.54

122

22.07

56

Louisiana

67.69

23

-46.75

98

20.94

57

WKU

-33.37

86

52.99

25

19.62

58

Missouri

-7.45

72

23.25

51

15.80

59

Northwestern

24.24

51

-8.72

66

15.52

60

Tennessee

112.77

11

-97.51

121

15.27

61

Bowling Green

-67.94

110

82.08

14

14.15

62

Connecticut

-66.17

108

74.76

15

8.58

63

Rutgers

-61.77

106

69.97

20

8.20

64

Buffalo

-31.64

85

38.88

37

7.24

65

Mississippi St

-8.24

73

15.26

54

7.01

66

NC State

32.11

45

-26.04

84

6.06

67

ULM

17.99

54

-18.30

75

-0.31

68

Washington

-43.35

97

41.37

31

-1.98

69

SMU

-42.51

96

36.74

38

-5.77

70

Ball St

38.68

39

-45.39

95

-6.71

71

Vanderbilt

-32.22

88

23.53

50

-8.69

72

FIU

-25.20

82

13.01

56

-12.19

73

Air Force

-4.72

69

-9.66

68

-14.38

74

Houston

45.99

37

-61.05

107

-15.06

75

USF

-6.15

70

-9.25

67

-15.40

76

Toledo

41.53

40

-57.02

103

-15.50

77

Kent St

-1.42

65

-15.19

74

-16.62

78

Rice

-6.20

71

-12.71

71

-18.91

79

Western Michigan

12.91

55

-32.40

89

-19.49

80

Army

35.52

44

-55.18

102

-19.67

81

Miami, Fl

72.77

24

-93.71

120

-20.94

82

California

0.58

62

-23.58

82

-23.00

83

Minnesota

-59.77

105

31.53

41

-28.24

84

Purdue

7.32

57

-36.50

91

-29.18

85

Navy

-37.20

93

1.28

62

-35.92

86

East Carolina

-8.56

75

-27.48

87

-36.04

87

Maryland

-108.66

121

70.04

18

-38.62

88

Duke

34.60

42

-74.11

111

-39.50

89

Indiana

64.00

26

-104.34

123

-40.34

90

South Alabama

-66.92

109

24.65

48

-42.28

91

North Texas

-20.68

78

-21.68

80

-42.36

92

Middle Tennessee

2.44

59

-44.85

94

-42.41

93

UAB

1.17

60

-44.84

93

-43.67

94

Washington St

-23.22

80

-22.70

81

-45.92

95

UTSA

-36.01

81

-9.99

69

-46.01

96

Utah

-82.40

114

34.64

40

-47.76

97

Florida Atlantic

-40.99

94

-7.74

65

-48.73

98

Colorado St

-51.79

99

-13.48

73

-65.27

99

Iowa St

-53.65

102

-13.25

72

-66.90

100

Iowa

-85.98

115

16.30

53

-69.68

101

UTEP

-42.42

95

-40.05

92

-82.47

102

Kansas

-60.13

104

-26.63

86

-86.76

103

Central Michigan

-31.26

87

-57.71

104

-88.97

104

Wyoming

-9.31

74

-80.32

117

-89.62

105

Hawaii

-99.80

119

9.38

58

-90.42

106

Miami, Oh

-4.02

68

-86.59

119

-90.61

107

Kentucky

-72.08

107

-20.01

78

-92.09

108

Akron

-17.02

77

-75.45

112

-92.47

109

Southern Miss

-74.54

113

-18.58

76

-93.12

110

Memphis

-123.49

123

26.18

46

-97.32

111

Illinois

-115.02

122

13.49

55

-101.53

112

New Mexico

-48.60

100

-54.75

101

-103.35

113

Temple

-43.26

92

-60.83

106

-104.08

114

Auburn

-94.08

116

-10.32

70

-104.40

115

UNLV

-46.00

98

-59.18

105

-105.17

116

Wake Forest

-79.23

112

-26.62

85

-105.84

117

Texas St

-59.01

103

-49.10

99

-108.11

118

Boston College

-31.61

84

-77.00

114

-108.61

119

Eastern Michigan

-57.36

101

-76.24

113

-133.60

120

Idaho

-76.11

111

-61.18

108

-137.29

121

Colorado

-95.24

117

-72.71

110

-167.95

122

Tulane

-93.32

120

-81.38

118

-174.70

123

New Mexico St

-95.31

118

-79.98

116

-175.29

124

Massachusetts

-113.53

124

-64.41

109

-177.94

To no surprise coming in at the top of the chart was Alabama. The Crimson Tide gained on average 74 more yards on offense than what their opponent was giving up and on defense Bama allowed 164 yards less than what their opponents were averaging coming in. When you add the two columns together, Alabama performed on average 238 yards better as far as the total number of offensive yards gained and defensive yards allowed than what their opponent was averaging. The only team to beat Alabama this past year came up #2 thanks to their offense as Texas A&M performed on average 212 yards better.

A couple of surprise non-BCS teams near the top were BYU and Fresno St. Ohio St which was the only team to finish the season undefeated actually finished at #27 one spot behind arch rival Michigan who played a much tougher schedule (albeit the Buckeyes did beat the Wolverines head-to-head).

At the bottom is Massachusetts which on average gained 114 yards less than what their opponents were allowing and then on defense allowed 64 yards more than what their opponents were averaging coming in for a -178 yards per game net.

Remember you can find these averages on every single team page in the game-by-game stats section.

Also make sure to check PhilSteele.com everyday for updates on our free downloadable spring guide that details an early preview of 2013. It comes complete with team schedules, coaching changes, who’s back and who’s not among my 2012 postseason All-Conference and All-Americans, NFL Draft analysis, interesting tidbits and so much more.